delete news post with php

Mr_Chew

I have a very simple news script that contains 2 files to post news on my website: admin.php which just contains the form for posting the news and post.php. I want to create a php script called delete.php that allows me to view all my news posts and select which ones I would like to delete.

Here is post.php:

<?php
// Connect to the database here with the db user and pass
include("connect.php");

$title = $_POST['title'];
$author = $_POST['author'];
$content = $_POST['content'];

if($title == "" || $author == "" || $content == "")
{
	echo "<h1>There were one or more errors in your news submission</h1>";
	exit();
}
else
{

foreach($_POST as $key => $val) {
$$key = htmlspecialchars($val,ENT_QUOTES);
}
$a = date("G:i:S ");
$b = date("d M");
$time = "$b at $a";
$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$date = date("m.d.y");  

mysql_query("INSERT INTO `$mysql_table` (title,author,date,content) VALUES ('$title','$author','$date','$content')");
if(mysql_error()) {
die(mysql_error());
}
echo "
<h1>News Post Successful</h1>
<p>Your news has been added to the database and is now viewable on your website.  You may now go back to the home page.</p>";
}
?>

So far in my delete.php file I have made a while loop that only echoes out each news post, but I want to be able to provide a 'delete' link after every news post that allows me to click on in and it will delete it from the database. How can I do this with php code?

delete.php:

<?
include("connect.php");
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
$query="SELECT * FROM `$mysql_table`";
$result=mysql_query($query);
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
  {
  echo "<b>Title: </b>" . $row['title'] . "<br /><b>Author:</b> " . $row['author'] . "<br /><b>Content:</b> " . $row['content'];
  echo "<p></p>";
  }
?>

rulian

To delete entries in the database you have to use the DELETE syntax, typically done using a table key of some sort.

A simply delete syntax is as follows:

mysql_query("DELETE FROM mytable WHERE my_id = 100");

Be sure to specify a WHERE clause that isolates the item(s) that you want to delete, you can use multiple clauses to be more specific, for example in your table

mysql_query("DELETE FROM ".$mytable." WHERE title = 'My big red book' AND author = 'Mr. Booky Bookguy' AND date = '2007-03-29'");

of course, if multiple entries match that, all those would be deleted, which is why its good practise to normalize your tables so you can reference a row specifically.

If all else fails you can always do a LIMIT 1 after the WHERE clause, but although it will only delete 1, there is not telling it will delte the one you are referecing

Mr_Chew

how would I use the DELETE syntax so that when I click on a link on a backend webpage of my site it does that process of deleteing that post.

for example I would have:

Title: Post
Author: John Doe
Message: Test

Delete post

what code would I use the DELETE sql syntax so that it will delete the post from the database after I click the delete link?

Thanks for the help in advance, appreciate it!

rulian

You wouldnt put the delete command in the link,
instead, use the link to simply pass a unique id associated with the row to a page that will perform the delete task

for example

Title: Post
Author: John Doe
Message: Test
woudl be <a href="delete.php?row=130">delete me</a>

so the variable row in the url is set to 130

so in your php file, the function you call to use the Delete syntax would be something like this

function deletepost($id)
{
$SQL=mysql_query("DELETE from mytable WHERE book_id = ".$id);
if (!$SQL) return false;
else return true;
}

so the function uses the variable within the syntax. To call the fucntion simply do a check for the variable and request

if (isset($GET["row"])) deletepost($GET["row"]);

Mr_Chew

if there a way for me to do this where i can input a while loop that populates a DELETE link for every news post? I tried doing this:

include("connect.php");
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
$query="SELECT * FROM `$mysql_table`";
$result=mysql_query($query);
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
  {
  echo "<b>Title: </b>" . $row['title'] . "<br /><b>Author:</b> " . $row['author'] . "<br /><b>Content:</b> " . $row['content'];
  echo "<p></p>";
  }

//while loop here

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
echo($row['title']."<a href='delete.php?id=".$row["id"]."'>DELETE</a><br />");
}
?>

for some reason the while loop isn't echoing out though

I read your post and am not sure how I would make it so that every 'delete' link has a different row number based on the amount of news posts populated